The use of modeling in the design of antennas is known. Typically, antenna designers use classic Euclidean geometry (for example, simple squares, circles, and triangles) to design the shape of an antenna and its components (also known as antenna “elements”) to obtain certain antenna characteristics. For example, the antenna designer will use a combination of shapes to control the antenna signal beam shape, also known as the antenna pattern or radiation pattern. This use of combinations of antenna elements and shapes to obtain desired antenna characteristics is typically referred to as antenna beam steering or beam shaping. Geometric antennas usually have well defined, fixed characteristics.
Reconfigurable antennas represent a class of antenna that normally does not have a specific characteristic. Instead, this class of antennas require configuration before they are usable. Reconfigurable antennas can operate over large frequency ranges and can be beam-steered without the use of multiple radiating elements and phase shifters as are found in a phased array type of antenna. In addition, this class of antenna does not generate grating lobes like a phased array antenna because the radiation source is a continuous element instead of a multiplicity of individual elements.
Reconfigurable antennas can accommodate a wide variety of specifications, such as beam width, operating frequency, and radiation angle. The difficulty with an antenna of this type is to determine a configuration that offers the desired performance based on a particular set of requirements and ensure that the configuration of the antenna is the desired configuration. At present, configurable antennas do not verify the configuration.